Straight up: if the Ravens had not pulled that out, it would have been a tainted outcome and an even HUGER bacl eye for the league. CLEARLY, the power outage impacted the competitive balance of the game. If Baltimore had gone on to lose that game their fans would have a LOT to complain about today, IMHO.

No matter what the reason, that was an inexcusable occurence for the biggest live TV broadcast all year. Several people should be fired over that debacle. Is it really so hard to design an illumination system that DOESN'T take 35 minutes to cycle back up after a power surge?

I also liked how after the LaMichael James fumble, the TV cameras proceeded to fixate on him on the SF sideline for pretty much the entirety of the Raven's resulting TD drive, but for the WHOLE 35 minute outage debacle, somehow the cameras couldn't seem to find the commissioner in his luxury box suite. I guess the media only enjoys humiliating the players, not the executives.

+1 to that. Maybe there was a wardrobe malfunction and that's why they killed the lights?

M - with you on being thankful the 49ersthe didn't pull off the upset. An extra half hour time out to regroup obviously was working in the niners favor, so glad we dont have to deal with conspiracy theory the day after.

I thought the deliberate safety at the end was brilliant, but couldnt help thinking how that play changed the betting results for so many people. Definitely a fun and drama filled game.

I can't agree on the lights out... People need fired? Who? Because it impacted a spectator sport that means nothing? I just can't agree. I imagine it's the ammount of power that is required in a building that size, and lights that size, that requires that kind of a reboot time... plus probably some safety checks to make sure when the cycle's up things don't pop on their end. If you get a power surge to your house you don't just flick everything back on without some care.

Likewise don't think the Ravens would've had much excuse had they lost... I just don't agree. They were given equal time to circle the wagons, make their game plan... Who knows if the Niners even needed that long? Maybe the half, they had changed enough to come out guns blazing like they did. It's like saying because it snowed or rained, one team was affected more than the other, and that's why they lost. It's a "**** happens" scenario, and one that impacted both teams equally. What they did with it was on them.

5 SB and 2 WS championships in the last 3 years, and not one of those lessen the sting of the loss.

As for the outage... Components wear out and fail. I'm sure they'll do their investigation, and if they conclude the breakdown happened because of shoddy work or maintenance wasn't kept up, then maybe someone will have to answer for it. Otherwise, shtuff happens.

I don't think you can compare weather conditions to a blackout. It isnt so much that an element of the game was more favorable to the niners, its that they were getting blown away, then had over half an hour to fix whatever wasnt clicking. Yes, Baltimore had that time as well, but they didnt really need to adjust anything the way the game was going. You cant look at the Niners post blackout and tell me that was the same gameplan as earlier in the game.

Whether you think the blackout helped them or not, we would be hearing conspiracy theories 24-7 if the Niners had come back to win at the end.

I'm with you on the outage not costing jobs though. Who knows what drove the problem and is it really worth firing people over? If anything, whoevers at fault should get a raise. An extra 34 minutes of ad space, added drama to watch, and potientially the reason the Niners came back near the end.

I'll say this much about the blackout... It only basically added extra time to the half-time gap which coaching staffs, whether they're up by 40 or down by 40, always evaluate and make changes to their next half. In my mind, this did nothing except run the risk of injury to someone on one side or another... Just because you're kicking the other team's ass doesn't mean you just say to your guys, "Let's just keep doing what we're doing". Even with 12 year olds there's always some tweaking taking place... So I think you'd have seen the same Niners had they had the usual half-time break or what they wound up with. And I think you'd have seen the same Baltimore.

I guess what I'm saying is I don't think in the extra time they had an epiphany on their coaching staff suddenly that they hadn't come up with during the initial half-time break.

Yeah, but it's hard to argue it didn't have an impact on the competitive nature of the game on the field. Flacco had 84 minutes between snaps, that's redonkulous. Guys tighten up, injuries can happen, it's not a good situation having a long delay like that, especially if you're the team with all the momentum coming off a huge 2nd half opening play like they were. I'm not crying conspiracy, I'm just saying it altered the results on the field, in my mind anyway, and something like that should never happen in a game of this magnitude.

I'm not so sure about the ad revenue lift either, a lot of people probably got sick of waiting and tuned out or switched to something else, plus it drove the last quarter out of the prime pre-10pm time slot. Not to mention all the families who were probably terrified that some kind of terrorist incident might be taking place. Ugh, just a real black eye for the NFL and the Superdome, IMO.

Yeah, but it's hard to argue it didn't have an impact on the competitive nature of the game on the field. Flacco had 84 minutes between snaps, that's redonkulous. Guys tighten up, injuries can happen, it's not a good situation having a long delay like that, especially if you're the team with all the momentum coming off a huge 2nd half opening play like they were. I'm not crying conspiracy, I'm just saying it altered the results on the field, in my mind anyway, and something like that should never happen in a game of this magnitude.

Kapernik also went 84 minutes between snaps, as did every player, and the refs... The only people getting a workout throughout the break were the analysts looking like they were playing hot potato with the mic throwing it to one another since not many of them could fill the time void well.

I'll give that the Ravens had a big play, but that meant the Niners had all that time to sit there and stew, and not get a kick to them wanting to get it back... that argument works both ways. Just as the argument that Flacco had to sit around works both ways that the other team did, and both coaching staffs did... You'll never convince me that someone got an advantage out of that, that the other team couldn't have turned into their own advantage if they had the right mindset.

I think you'd have seen the same Niners team come out, either way, but you could easily BS the same argument that the blackout hurt the Niners if you wanted to... Their emotions after that run-back would be high. Leaders would've been firing their teammates up... Now, that balloon's deflated too.

I really just think had the Ravens lost, all it would've been was an excuse-fest as to why they didn't, rather than accepting everyone dealt with the same conditions. Like I said, power surges happen, they're beyond people's control... I'm not able to rewire my house much less understand the lighting system of a domed stadium so I have no clue if it should've taken taht long or not to get back up and running, but it's no different than a storm coming up and stopping a game outdoors, and then the game continuing in a little while when the storm passes.

Same thing happened to the Steelers, in San Fran, and we lost, and **** happens.

I have to say the blackout hurt the Ravens. It isn't like it happened right after the halftime show. It happened about three minutes into the second half. The Ravens returned the opening quick off for a touchdown and had the 49'ers at 3rd and 13. If the 49'ers don't convert, Ravens have a ton of momentum. While they didn't convert after the delay, they sure had a lot of time to regroup, much more so than at halftime. You can probably chalk that one up to the delay. Converting a 3rd and long after a delay of that amount probably isn't easy. At halftime, yes they would have made adjustments, but they got an extra halftime to readjust again after going down by another touchdown. The Ravens were flat on their next series and then the 49'ers went on a roll. Without the delay, I don't think the 49'ers would have made it a close game.

Well, Kaps didn't actually have 84 minutes between snaps because they had the ball both before and after the blackout, so Flacco did have the longer wait, in all fairness. But I understand it's sort of beside the point, ultimately. Once the game's back on, you gotta play.